Navigating AI Competition and Enhancing User Experience

Louise Story, CEO of Atlas Obscura and veteran of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, joins me to talk about steering a beloved travel brand into its next chapter. We discuss her decision to wind down the in-house experiences business, why brand partnerships — especially with tourism bureaus — are now the company’s core revenue stream, and how she plans to turn Atlas Obscura’s community into the foundation for a robust travel-planning app. Louise also shares how her product background shapes her approach and why building direct audience relationships is critical in an era of search decline and AI disruption.